TEGUCIGALPA – One Honduran police officer was wounded by drug smugglers in a battle that ended with the seizure of four bales of cocaine and the arrest of one suspect, Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said Thursday.

The confrontation took place around midnight Wednesday after a small plane touched down at a clandestine landing strip in the Caribbean province of Gracias a Dios, the minister told reporters.

The policeman wounded in the 20-minute shootout is in stable condition, Alvarez said, identifying the suspect in custody as 43-year-old Honduran national Daniel Gonzalez.

The flight of the drug-laden plane apparently originated at a spot on the Venezuela-Colombia border, the official said.

Police and military units carried out the operation with support from elements of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Alvarez said.

Honduran security forces seized two tons of cocaine last week from a speedboat off the coast of Gracias a Dios province. EFE